


I'm Not Okay (I Promise)

by fr0sted_fox (MoosesnMaple)



Category: Bleach, Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Kingdom Hearts III Spoilers, M/M, Minor Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Mutual Pining, definitely not the focus but there is slight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25061008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoosesnMaple/pseuds/fr0sted_fox
Summary: The only thing anyone cares about is if Sora has the power of waking, no one stops to ask how he's doing, no one understands what he's going through. Not until his heart reaches out and brings them to Karakura town, where Sora meets a strange teen with orange hair tasked with saving his own world.Kingdom Hearts x Bleach crossover, set during KH3, following arrancar arc up to end of the winter war in Bleach.
Relationships: Donald Duck & Goofy & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Sora & Kurosaki Ichigo
Comments: 11
Kudos: 29





	1. Landing

**Author's Note:**

> My writing playlist is full of early 2000s pop punk and it shows

“Sora, have you figured out the power of waking yet?” Sora slouched back in his seat, rubbing his eyes and sighing, it was the same question every time they left a world. 

“No, Donald. I’m trying but it’s really hard! It’s not like I can just flip a switch and suddenly know it!”

“Well you need to try harder Sora. Everyone’s depending on you to learn the power of waking and help Ven!”

“It’s not like I’m not trying Donald. You just don’t understand what I’m going through!” _No one does though, do they?_ Any response from Donald fell on deaf ears. What was Sora doing, really? Everyone felt free to place their expectations on his shoulders, but as soon as he was struggling no one tried to help or even reassure him; except maybe Riku. But since the Mastery Exam, they had barely seen each other, let alone had time to talk about what was on their minds. There was only so much that could be talked about on the Gummiphone with Donald and Goofy hanging around. Between that and the constant danger at every corner phone calls were short and information-based, bare-bones status updates. He wished there was someone he could talk to. Someone who understood the nightmares that plagued his sleep, the pressure of having so many people rely on a power he wasn’t even sure he had. 

A burst of blinding white light shone through the windshield of the Gummi ship. A pathway to a new world shook Sora from his thoughts, it was a good thing no stray heartless or asteroids had come along or he might have gotten another lecture from Donald about paying attention while he was flying. Sora tried to grin, the ship had definitely slowed from his melancholy thoughts, but while his reflection in the window seemed to be grimacing, it must have been good enough for the ship as they gained speed to slip through the corridor to a new world. 

They landed in an empty park. Sora was the first to hop out of the ship and take a look around. There was some playground equipment but no children to be found, trees and grass skirting a dirt play area, and a road leading through a small suburb. Sora’s head whipped around as he heard Donald squawk, looking left and right not seeing his feathered friend, until he looked down and saw a small, duck-shaped plush toy, face flat on the ground, followed by a dog-shaped stuffed toy walking on two legs. He crouched, hands on his knees to take a closer look at his friends. “Why do you guys look like that, but I look normal?” 

“My magic decided it was the best way to protect the world order!” Sora kept his skepticism about the forms Donald’s magic deemed best for protecting the world order to himself. He could still feel the chill of Arendelle’s wind on his arms and calves. 

“Gawrsh, this isn’t that much different to Woody and Buzz’s world. You’re just bigger Sora.”

“Oi! Who’re you?” Sora’s head whipped towards the voice, keyblade at the ready. It probably wasn’t the best decision but his companions were currently stuffed animals and there was no way to know who or what was coming up behind him. “Where’d that spaceship come from? That definitely wasn’t here before.”

“Uhhhh… new play equipment for the kids?” The visitor had a shock of spikey orange hair on his head and the second biggest sword Sora had ever seen in his hand. His mouth was set in a thin line, he did not look amused at Sora’s response. 

“I think I’d have noticed something like that being installed. And anyway, what kind of zanpakuto is that? And what are you wearing?” 

“What’s a zanpakuto? And what’s wrong with my clothes?!” Sora compared his clothes with the stranger’s monochrome attire, “What are _you_ wearing?”

“You mean you can see me and you _aren’t_ a shinigami?” The stranger sighed, “ You should come with me. You may have a weapon but it's not safe out here for spiritually aware people and I’m not going to be held accountable if you get hurt.” He eyed Sora critically as Sora desperately tried to make sense of what was being said to him.

“I’ll go with you if you explain what literally any of what you just said means.” What was this guy even talking about? 

Donald squawked from behind Sora and tugged on his pant leg, “Sora! You haveta protect the world order! You can’t let him know we don’t know what’s going on!” The small plush Donald stood with his wings on his hips, looking as surly as a stuffed animal could manage. Sora crouched in a weak attempt to look his companion in the eyes,

“He’s not exactly offering much helpful information, how else are we gonna learn anything if we don’t ask questions?” He whispered a smidge too loudly. Donald grumbled under his breath but didn’t press further and Goofy just shrugged. As Sora turned back to the orange-haired stranger he stiffened up as if he was alerted to an unseen danger, with a hand slowly reaching back to his massive sword. 

“You stay here. I’ll be back to bring you to a friend of mine who can answer your questions, but I have to check something out first.” Without so much as a glance back at Sora the stranger took off in an instant, there one moment and gone the next. Sora looked over his shoulder back at Donald and Goofy, 

“We’re going after him, right?” Donald, still surly, sighed. Sora took it as a yes and scooped Donald and Goofy into his hood before running in the general direction he thought the orange-haired guy went. How was he so fast? And it was pretty rude to leave without even introducing himself. 

In the end, Sora ran blindly through the streets, following a strange pull he felt coming from his very core. His determination turned to a sick worry deep in his gut as he took in the bodies laying in the field in front of him. Had the stranger done that? They didn’t seem physically injured, so maybe heartless? Sora’s eyes followed the trail of bodies up to a deep crater, only to look up and see the stranger frozen in front of a giant in white and a smaller pale man also entirely in white. He sprinted in, keyblade gripped tight and ready to deflect the blow coming straight for the stranger; only to be blocked at the last second by a red shield that appeared from thin air, closely followed by a blond man in a bucket hat and a woman with purple hair. They lept into action faster than Sora could track and seemed to have a handle on the giant, so Sora turned his attention to the bloodied stranger he had chased through town. 

“Are you okay?” Sora knelt and took in the stranger’s state worriedly. He didn’t get a response so much as a frustrated and pained growl. His hands clenched hard in the grass, knuckles turning white. Pain was evident in the furrow of his brow and the way his lips twisted into a grimace. “I’m gonna do something to help, it might be weird to you but I’m not going to hurt you,” Sora summoned the power from within him, shaping it to heal; But instead of the normal cascade of green energy coming from his keyblade, his hands started to glow with a soft green light. His eyes widened in alarm at the change, that didn’t usually happen between worlds. It seemed to be working all the same though, so he hovered the glowing green hand over the worst injuries he could see on the stranger. It was slower than a normal cure, and Sora watched the flesh slowly but steadily knit back together. 

In his concentration, the battle faded to the back of Sora’s mind. The confrontation ended sooner than Sora had expected, he was startled from his focus when the blond stranger turned his blade from the retreating enemies to Sora, the hat hiding his eyes and mouth set in a thin line creating an imposing figure. “Who are you?”


	2. Comparing Notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora tries to figure out just what's going on with his magic while convincing his new aquaintances that he isn't a danger.

Sora sat crosslegged in front of a low table, cold cup of tea sitting in front of him while the others in the room, Ichigo and Urahara as he had very recently learned, stared him down in confusion and disbelief. Once Urahara had been talked down and convinced Sora wasn’t a danger he was brought back to the small sweets shop that Urahara owned. When settled in the back room, Sora began his explanation of where he had come from, much to Donald’s chagrin. He told them about the heartless, keyblades, Kingdom Hearts, about Xehanort’s plans, the power of waking, any details that seemed relevant and some that maybe weren’t but being open, telling the truth for once just felt too good. “Honestly, I’m not the best person to explain this, some of the details are kinda fuzzy even to me.” _Like how he was supposed to get the power of waking back._

Ichigo was the first to break the silence that followed Sora’s tirade with a loud snort of skeptisism. “I’ve seen a lot of weird crap but you can’t expect me to believe that?” Urahara looked to Ichigo, breaking his critical study of Sora and his friends,

“Now now Kurosaki-kun, let’s not be so hasty to judge our new friend’s story. As you said, you have experienced things that a normal human would think outlandish. I, for one, am _very_ interested in what Sora has said about alternate worlds.” Donald glared at Sora with the fury and intensity of a thousand stars while Goofy patted his shoulder consolingly. He wasn’t likely to be over the flagrant breach of the world order any time soon. 

“I don’t think there’s any way for you to go between worlds, we need to use the gummi ship and some people can use Corridors of Darkness, but I’m not sure that’d work here. Some things seem… different,” Sora glanced at Donald’s fuming form, “You wouldn’t want to go anyways! It’s not that exciting and more dangerous than it seems.” He chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. The intrigue in Urahara’s eyes only dimmed the slightest fraction, still all too enthralled with mystery sat in front of him. 

“What a shame. But I’m sure you have many questions of your own do you not, Sora?” Oh boy did he ever. He shot his questions rapid-fire at his hosts, trying to remember all of the confusing things he had seen and heard since landing on their world. Usually, by this point he had at least a few points of context for what was going on, but these people were much more tight-lipped than the others he had met in his travels so far. They hadn’t been rude, at least not overtly, but they were wary of him. Urahara offered more in the way of explanation than Ichigo did, though Ichigo did quip about drawings someone named Rukia made for him when he was new to “this”. 

“Soooooo, you guys are like ghosts?” Sora slowly reached across the table towards Urahara to see if his hand passed through the man, only to have his hand swiftly smacked away by a folded fan. He frowned and shook the sting out of his hand as Urahara smiled saccharinely,

“In a way I suppose, though it is a rather simplified idea, we are ghosts with additional powers through the strength of our souls.” Ichigo eyed Sora with scrutiny,

“ _That’s_ the part you had an issue with? Not the swords that are manifestations of our souls? Or the big monsters that eat said souls?” Sora just shrugged at Ichigo.

“Magic weapons and monsters are kinda normal for me at this point. The Keyblade chose me because of the strength of my heart,” - _Did he deserve it though? -_ “and that doesn’t sound too different than you guys’ zan.. Zaannn…”

“Zanpakutou?” 

“Yeah! And your Hollows sound kinda like heartless. I’m still a bit confused about why they’re different though,” He looked at Donald and Goofy then back, “No matter where we go heartless and nobodies are pretty standard. There are different types but something about this world is different, my magic is different too…” Sora frowned thoughtfully as he remembered how his cure worked when he tried to heal Ichigo. Ichigo, who looked like he was believing Sora less and less by the minute. Which was fair Sora supposed, if he hadn’t been thrust keyblade first into his adventures he would probably have had a hard time believing it too. 

“Perhaps a friendly fight would help you get a handle on your abilities, I have a training area that I’m sure could take anything you have to throw at it,” Urahara smiled and looked to Ichigo, “And I’m sure Kurosaki-kun here would be happy to help and see what you can do for himself. After all, if not for you Sora, he would be all bandaged up.” Urahara’s tone left little room for argument but Ichigo seemed to pale slightly and tense up at the thought of fighting, his ever-present scowl deepening. The last thing Sora wanted to do was upset the first people he met on this world.

“Thanks so much for that offer um, Urahara, but if Ichigo isn’t feeling up to it I can just practice on my own! Or with Donald and Goofy even.” Ichigo eyed up the stuffed animals sat beside Sora critically then sighed. 

“It’s fine Sora. I’ve fought worse while feeling worse - no offence-” Ichigo looked pensive like he was having a conversation with himself internally. “Letting you get a handle on how things apparently work here is for the best anyways.” With that settled Urahara led them down to what seemed to be a vast desert landscape. 

“Whoaaaaa~ How’d you fit this under the shop?” Sora looked around with awe and Urahara just smirked in response. He followed Ichigo and Urahara further into the training room, stopping abruptly behind Urahara as he raised his cane and pushed it _through_ Ichigo, leaving him stumbling forward in the black clothing he wore when he first found Sora, and his body crumbling to the ground lifelessly. Sora stepped back almost instinctively in shock, they’d told him that they were essentially ghosts but it was something else entirely to see someone leave their body with nothing more than a scowl and stumble at the rough transition. 

“Hey! You ready?” Ichigo called to Sora’s dumbfounded form as he pulled his oversized sword from his back. Sora shook off his concern and called his keyblade to his hand, running towards Ichigo and leaving Donald and Goofy with Urahara off to the side. 

The first clang of zanpakuto against keyblade rang out into the desert landscape and Sora felt the first bits of tension leave his body. He didn’t thirst for battle, but it was familiar at this point. A childhood spent sparring with wooden swords could never really prepare him fully for what had come but he would fight to protect his friends no matter what. Sora could feel himself smiling as he faced off against Ichigo. He was incredibly strong and had a focus that Sora recognized, the focus of someone who had fought for his life on multiple occasions. He had to wonder just what Ichigo had been through, he couldn’t be much older than Sora. There was still so much Sora didn’t know about this world. 

As much as Sora was enjoying the fight, feeling the nostalgia for a time long past on the beach with his friends, he had more to focus on. Magic was still… different. Thunder still brought lightning, but was focused straight from his hand. That one had narrowly missed Ichigo and left a scorched crack in a boulder behind where he had been standing mere seconds before. Other magic was much the same, a different look and a different point of focus but still called upon in the same way as he would anywhere else. That was okay, Sora could adapt. Maybe Donald would have a reason for it later, probably the world order. The magic in his clothes from the good fairies seemed to still be the same though, slowly building up until he could unleash it and change the form of his keyblade. Ichigo’s eyes widened in shock at that, the unexpected change throwing him off just enough for Sora to rush in and knock his blade from his hands. Victory secured. 

“So,” Sora leaned back casually with the Kingdom Key behind his neck, drawing on the cocky energy he had seen Riku exude too many times after his victories against Sora, “Did I meet your expectations?” Ichigo snorted and cracked the first smile Sora had seen from him since they arrived. He had a kind smile, a softness under his scowling exterior. Urahara walked over, clapping slowly as he went, with a glowering, disgruntled Donald, and nonchalant Goofy in tow. 

“Very impressive Sora, it’s not every day someone takes Kurosaki-kun off guard.” Urahara smiled smugly and Ichigo rolled his eyes at the remark, “Why don’t you two go rest up, I’m sure you have plenty to talk about. Your friends and I will figure out your accommodations as I’m sure you don’t wish to stay in Kurosaki-kun’s closet.” Sora looked at Ichigo bewilderedly, sensing a story behind the remark but letting it go as he followed him up the stairs, there would be time for all of his questions later, after a quick message to Riku and a nap. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little longer this time! I had a hard time deciding where to end it but I think I found a good spot and I wanted to get it out to y'all!  
> Battle/action scenes aren't my forte, I generally prefer to focus on the thoughts and feelings in the heat of battle as opposed to the action, especially for bleach fights where the fight can take multiple episodes/chapters to finish haha.  
> I'll try to get the next part out asap, I have so many ideas and concepts I want to touch on but the next couple weeks will be a bit of a clusterfuck for me.   
> As always, if you enjoyed please leave a kudos and maybe a comment! I love reading and responding to all of your comments, the honestly make my month! <3


	3. Highschool Never Ends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! Life got kinda crazy and I'm in the middle of moving! Took a while for me to be happy with this chapter but as always I hope you enjoy! :)

“What do you mean I have to go to school?” 

“You want to appear normal to those looking in from the outside, don’t you Sora?” Urahara had a point but Sora hadn’t been to school in like, two years! As if being able to read the panic in Sora’s mind Urahara continued, “It’s very unlikely you will have to complete much work, this is merely a temporary measure to keep you busy while we plan for Aizen’s next move. The other high schoolers won’t question you unless you give them a reason to.” Sora wasn’t convinced, but everyone else seemed relaxed about the idea, even Donald who was probably the hardest to convince that Sora could go on his own. Though Sora’s fervent promise not to share any more than necessary with anyone else seemed to help the duck keep his cool. If anyone asked, he was a family friend visiting from abroad. It didn’t seem like the most airtight explanation but it would hopefully hold until he left. The visiting from abroad part was close enough to the truth at least. 

“I guess my grades can’t get any worse than nonexistent,” Donald sniggered.

“Maybe you can learn to count while you’re there Sora!” Donald continued to laugh at his joke and Sora tried to fight off a sour frown. He would never live that down, it’s not like he’s _stupid_ , he just had to learn other things since he was swept away from the Islands, survival trumped things like math or science. 

The uniform constricted Sora’s movements in ways he hadn’t felt in a while, he longed for the comfort and manoeuvrability of his fairy made clothes. Sora took a seat on a desk near Ichigo and his friends, trying to keep up with the conversation happening around him. They were fawning over Orihime’s injuries, which made sense, they probably didn’t see injuries like that every day, even if Orihime was as clumsy as she claimed to be. Sora had asked if he could heal her back at Urahara’s shop when they had met after his spar with Ichigo but she had insisted she would be fine. 

The classroom was slowly filling up and idle conversation filtered through the air around Sora. It was almost scary how far removed he felt from everyone around him. They were all his age but he hadn’t even thought about things like weekend plans or the new episode of a tv show in what felt like forever. Their concerns felt shallow in a way that Sora wasn’t sure he felt comfortable thinking about. That was why he was doing all of this, wasn’t it? So no one across any of the worlds would have to worry about the things that he did. A wistful sigh escaped his lips in tandem with a sigh from Ichigo. Ichigo caught his eye with a slightly concerned furrowed brow. He likely would have asked what was wrong, if not for the sudden commotion at the door to the classroom. A group of 5 people tried to squeeze through at the same time, four of them looking too old to be in the school uniform, and the shorter one in front, a child with white hair and a scowl to rival Ichigo’s looking annoyed at those behind him. Ichigo’s jaw dropped in shock and he walked towards them with wide eyes, like he couldn’t believe they were standing right in front of him. 

Sora hung back at the desk he was sitting on, the group looked intimidating and they were talking loud enough that he could hear the conversation mostly clearly, something about a thing called Arrancar, and meeting with Ichigo in the human world. If they were shinigami it was even more of a reason to just observe, the fewer questions they asked about Sora the better, especially without Donald around to get mad about the world order. The person doing most of the talking to Ichigo had bright red hair up in a spiked ponytail and tattoos across his forehead and neck, Sora wondered what Lea would look like with his hair tied up like that. Despite his efforts to stay unnoticed, the short one seemed to sense something about Sora and stared him down with scrutiny, a slight frown crossing his childish features. 

His gaze was broken when a loud thud came from a window at the back of the classroom, his eyes instead drawn to a hand gripping the windowsill tightly. A short girl who looked to be about Sora’s age, with black hair and purple eyes hauled herself onto the windowsill, standing on it with her arms crossed after a particularly hard push upwards. If Ichigo had been surprised at the appearance of the others, he looked downright dumbstruck at her. He breathed out a single, slightly confused word, “Rukia..?” She smirked at his confused look,

“Long time no see, Ichigo,” and within an instant she was sailing towards Ichigo, a kick landing squarely on his cheek and sending him falling back into the Lea lookalike’s arms. Just who were these people? The students who had been in the room before were all doing their best to huddle away from the commotion, looking on and whispering in confusion. From their perspective it must have looked like she had knocked Ichigo out, but Sora saw her reach out her gloved hand to drag Ichigo’s spirit out of his body before it fully slumped lifelessly in the redhead’s arms. Rukia dragged Ichigo with her back out the window she had come in through and Sora stood, fully intending to follow her when the apparent leader of the group of Shinigami called out to him,

“You, come with us.” The look on his face suggested disobeying wouldn’t be smart, “We’ll just bring Ichigo to the nurse’s office,” he announced slightly louder, looking at the scared students huddled in the back behind Sora. Didn’t look like he had much of a choice, so he propelled himself off the desk, jumping to his feet and followed the group. Hopefully his story held up. 

Toshiro frowned at Sora throughout his Donald-and-Urahara approved story. Why was everyone here so mistrustful and cranky all the time? Sora sighed wistfully as he remembered how easy all of this was on other worlds. It’s so much easier to protect the world order when people don't ask questions. Was it not enough for a strange boy to show up with a strange weapon and want to help? Apparently not. Ichigo returned not too much later and Sora was finally introduced to the Rukia he had heard of before. She seemed nice, and definitely the most welcoming of the shinigami.

He made it through the school day without much scrutiny, thanks to the commotion the shinigami had caused. They didn’t stick around long, and Sora wished they had taken him with them. They seemed like a lot to handle but anything would have been better than sitting in a desk, leg bouncing with pent up energy. He was on edge, the quiet was strange, usually he would be out taking care of heartless or helping princesses. The day dragged on and Sora didn’t intake any of the information he was told. Math and numbers seemed to carry over well enough but missing at least two years of foundation left Sora lost. At least he could thank Donald’s magic for being able to understand the language, the world order wasn’t all strict constraints and secrets all the time. When school ended, Sora followed Ichigo home with Rukia, hoping to get some help with the homework; but of course things never went according to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some kinda important notes for those of you following the story, I start back at work tomorrow so might take an extra-long time for the next part to come out. Also, I feel like I'm forcing myself to follow the structure of the Bleach story too rigidly. Originally setting out this fic was going to be a series of short stories/drabbles within the confines of the AU. I'm going to try to keep things chronological but if there's a flashback style thing I'll make it clear at the beginning of the chapter. All of this just to say that there's likely to be some structural changes in the narrative, and chapters may be more loosely connected than leading straight into one another.   
> Let me know what you think, I also have a short almost report style chapter of Urahara's observations and theories on Sora bouncing around in my head that might become a thing.   
> Leave a kudos if you like and comments make my day 100x better <3

**Author's Note:**

> I promise Ichigo actually introduces himself in the next chapter.  
> This is honestly entirely self-indulgent (as are all of my fics tbh) and I'm having a lot of fun figuring out where things intersect and where to bend the rules. I have part of the next chapter written out and beyond that, I have some solid and some not so solid ideas. My notes for this fic are chaos but it will be following the general events of going to hueco mundo and up to Aizen's defeat. Riku and Kairi are gonna come visit at some point because they deserve fun too. Also while not applicable in writing, I imagine the world would have Karakura town or the Urahara shop on top and then Hueco Mundo on the bottom, kinda like how Olympus looked in KH2
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments and talk to me @fr0sted-fox on tumblr, none of my friends follow Bleach or KH and I can't keep yelling about this AU to them, for their sakes. 
> 
> I leave Dark Road on auto while I write so I don't touch my phone and I'm slightly ashamed that it works as well as it does.


End file.
